


You Can Be the Moon, and Still be Jealous of the Sun

by LeafontheWinf2



Series: Time Traveler's Mate [6]
Category: Guardians of Childhood - William Joyce, Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Grief/Mourning, Idiots in Love, It'll get better someday, Jealousy, M/M, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-10
Updated: 2015-10-10
Packaged: 2018-04-25 16:13:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4967596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeafontheWinf2/pseuds/LeafontheWinf2
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack Frost is jealous of a dead woman. Aster is jealous of his past selves. Even with all of this pain, and the misunderstandings that come with it, they still manage to make it work somehow. </p><p>This is how our time travelers fight the green eyed monster.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Can Be the Moon, and Still be Jealous of the Sun

**Author's Note:**

> I love the idea of Aster having a mate who is gone, and how Jack deals with it. Especially because Aster can travel through time, so what's stopping him from visiting his dead mate?
> 
> And I also wanted to explore Bunny's feeli about Jack going to see his younger selves. It's an interesting experience.

Jack was a very self assured spirit. He had to be, when he had spent so much time alone. There had been other young spirits who had been in Jack's original situation who didn't fare as well as he had. Several had gone insane from the amount of time they spent alone, turning rabid and attacking the humans. Somehow Jack had held onto his humanity and managed to craft a strong personality at the same time.

Sure, Jack was just a little insane from that isolation, but overall he functioned. In fact, most days Jack found that he functioned better than the other Guardians when it came to normal situations. Like keeping your fingers out of other people's mouths, or not throwing them in sacks. Which was kind of sad actually.

And part of that self assuredness was a strong self esteem. Jack knew he was the shit, and those who didn't recognize that could suck it. It had been even further cemented once he had finally gotten married to Bunny. Having the pooka recognize that Jack was the single greatest thing in the entire universe was very good for the ego. And it didn't help that Bunny was rather adorable as he tried to coddle Jack and give the winter sprite everything he wanted without making it seem obvious.

Yes, Jack loved Bunny and knew Bunny loved him. Jack had never been prone to the raging jealousy his husband was prone to experiencing. Built in instinct, Aster would say while Jack just called it alpha-male-bullshit. Although, it did lead to some incredible sex when Bunny felt the need to remind Jack of who his mate was. 

So no, Jack was rarely jealous. In fact, there was only one person in the entire world that Jack ever found himself jealous of, and even that was ridiculous. Because Jack was jealous of a dead person. 

Bunny had once had another mate, that much Jack knew. He never talked about her (Jack assumed it was a her) but every now and then his eyes would get sad and he would retreat into his head and away from Jack. Those were the days when all Jack could do was hold Bunny until he returned to his senses. 

And that was what Jack was jealous of. He hated home some dead woman (or pooka, again Bunny never said which) had such a hold on HIS mate. And it could really be anything! A certain smell would do it, but the worst Jack had discovered was in the library. 

If Jack was in the library with Aster, and the lights so much as flickered, his mate lost his mind. Jack had lost count of how many times he had been carried out of the room and just pulled into Bunny's lap while the pooka began to shake with an ancient grief. It drove Jack insane, and he really wanted to read the damn book on the third shelf already!

Plus, Bunny's dead mate had her own special place in the Warren. Hidden behind the egg fields was a grave dedicated to his dead mate. Jack had never gone there. Even just approaching it had left him feeling like he was intruding on something deeply private and that hurt. Jack didn't keep any secrets from Aster! Well, except for the one about the elf and the egg sentinel...

Some days, like today, Bunny would retreat to where the grave was and leave Jack alone in the Warren. Before Jack would just go out to cause some storms or go penguin bowling. But now with the time travel device, Jack could do whatever he wanted whenever he wanted! 

Punching in the coordinates with a wide grin, Jack let himself fall through time to where and when he wanted to go. The Warren looked different in the past than it did in Jack's time. This was a well ordered version,neither each plant in a very specific place. No plants mixed together, and Jack could just see the difference that a couple hundred years would do for the place. 

He floated across the ground, making sure not to frost over the perfectly manicured grass. The door to the Burrow was open so Jack let himself go drifting in. He could see Aster just standing there in the kitchen, head bowed in silent grief. 

Jack slid across the ground and wrapped his arms around green clad shoulders. He pressed his cheek to Aster's shoulder, rubbing his nose against the greying fur there. He couldn't stop himself from cooing gently as Aster began to shake with sobs.

"Oh, sweetheart," Jack murmured, turning the distraught pooka in his arms. Nimble fingers removed glasses before tucking Aster into the crook of his neck as they sunk to the floor together. 

Every New Year's Day, Aster would just break down and mourn his dead mate. Most of the time Jack was allowed to comfort his mate, to cuddle and kiss the hurt away. But some days Bunny would ask to be alone. Which Jack understood, there were just some days you needed to have your grief and be alone with it to handle the mess. 

So on those days Jack would go back in time and comfort a version of his mate who needed him. "It's going to be alright love," Jack cuddled the pooka close, "I know it doesn't seem like it now, but one day things will be better."

"How?" Aster sobbed out, and Jack hated the dead woman who turned his loving mate into this mess. "How can this ever get better?" 

"You know I can't tell you that," Jack whispered, "Just have Hope, in you and me, and it will get better." 

So yes, Jack was jealous of a dead woman. But he took comfort that here and now, he was the one who helped Bunny move forward.

~*~

Aster knew he was a jealous old bastard. It was just in his nature. He needed to keep Jack near him, needed to remind himself that his mate was alive and well most days. Because some nights Aster would wake up screaming from nightmares where he was left holding Jack's corpse, forced to watch the life drain from his eyes. 

That terrible loss would drag itself out at the worst possible times. Like when Aster had growled at North for putting his arm around Jack's shoulders at the Christmas party. Or when he had thrown the Groundhog through a door during the New Years Party. 

New Years was always a problem for Aster. It brought back bad memories, memories that he would give anything to forget. But he couldn't because the day when his life was ruined was steadily creeping closer. 

It was why Aster had sent Jack away today. Not because he wanted to, but because he had to. Jack had appeared on the first anniversary of....well, of Aster's mates death. He could still remember being held, remember Jack promising that everything would be fine. Aster would always cherish that bitter sweet memory, remembering the Hope Jack had given him. 

This was how Aster was most jealous of. His past self. Because his past self had all the time in the world to spend together with Jack. They could go anywhere, do anything. Build new memories together! But Aster, he was losing precious time. Every second with Jack was one more lost, one more he would never get back.

His past self never had that problem. His past self only had their joy to look forward to, their happiness to experience. Aster would never stop being jealous of that fact. 

"I just got back from Pamukkale," the adored voice of his dead mate whispered, "You took us there for our anniversary. One of the best days of my life..."

Aster squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block out the beautiful voice that was lost to him. He couldn't stand to look at the grave before him, to see the delicate curves of the pookan language forming his beloved's name. Hidden under the weeping willow, and covered in delicate snowdrops, this was Aster's space. He was so thankful that Jack never came here.

Aster knew Jack was jealous of his dead mate, but it was ridiculous. There had only ever been Jack as his mate. 

It made Aster physically sick to think of Jack standing over his own grave. His darling little mate should never be forced to do that. Should never have to look at his grave.

And that was part of why Aster was so jealous of his last self. His Jack was going to die soon, Aster knew. Jack had been begging them to go to Pamukkale and there was only so long he could keep putting it off before he hurt Jack. And Aster...he couldn't have Jack's last memories of them together be bitter. 

A pained sigh left him as he reached out to gently trade Jack's name on the grave. He loved his mate, loved him so much. But there was only so long that Aster could hold onto him before Jack was forcibly ripped away from him. 

Hope remained in Aster, even as their days grew numbered. His Hope was strong, was ancient, the need to keep his mate alive ate at him. Because time could be changed. Aster had never attempted to change a fixed point in time before, but he would now. 

He would destroy the universe to save Jack. And first, he needed to find Seraphina.

**Author's Note:**

> So yeah. Bunny's dead mate is Jack. This means Jack is going to die in Bunny's past, but Jack's future. I am leading the story in that direction but it may take a little longer.
> 
> I'm still playing with time lines and just how exactly Jack will die. I've got an idea, but it needs to be flushed out. But don't worry. At the very end everything will work out for the best.


End file.
